Tag Archive: Bradley Cooper

If you don’t want to see anything about Avengers: Endgame you might want to skip the latest trailer, which reveals some trickery by Marvel Studios in its earlier trailers–although with time travel bringing anyone back into the fold it’s not just possible but a likely scheme to mess with Thanos, and anything can happen. Take a look at the new trailer below, along with a new poster including the key cast at least one version of what we’ll see in the film.

If you don’t see Captain Marvel first (reviewed here at borg), one thing is clear: you’re not going understand what’s going on in Avengers: Endgame. As Marvel fans will see in one of the codas for the current film in theaters, everything is coming together, and in today’s trailer the Avengers Assemble–that also means new uniforms.

It’s good seeing most of the Avengers back again, even if there’s still no sign of the last recruit, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. The only quirk: Danai Gurira’s Okoye is in the poster, but her name was the only actor not included in the first poster released today in the above-the-title list of actors (she is listed below the title, along with those not pictured: Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, and Gwyneth Paltrow)–contractual deals tend to be specific about what actors get the top of the marquee listing and who doesn’t, but this decision tends to stand out. But Marvel updated that a few hours later (shown updated to the right above). And in the realm of trickiness, note that the original poster included 19 names, many of which were omitted this time–reflecting the characters who vanished in Avengers: Infinity War, like Benedict Cumberbatch.

So many movies, especially superhero movies, depend greatly on the success of the villains. Spider-man: Homecoming is great in part because of Michael Keaton’s Vulture. Black Panther is great in part because of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. And Thor: Ragnarok was great in part because of a load of solid villains: the CGI-created Surtur, Cate Blanchett’s Hela, and Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster (and even a great supporting tier of antagonists including Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, and Karl Urban’s Skurge). So now, at last, Josh Brolin moves past his cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron to give us a big dose of one of comic books’ best-known villains, Thanos.

Marvel Studios promised to tie everything together, including every magical talisman holding the six Infinity Stones, of which filmgoers have encountered five so far: The blue Space Stone (seen held in the Tesseract in Captain America: The First Avenger), the yellow Mind Stone (seen in the Scepter in The Avengers), the red Reality Stone (seen held in the Aether in Thor: The Dark World), the purple Power Stone (seen in the Orb in Guardians of the Galaxy), and the green Time Stone (seen in the Eye of Agamotto in Doctor Strange).

With so much noise in the movie marketplace this year, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, came and went with little fanfare. But the hype of other productions and the failure of the studio to come up with a more audience-grabbing publicity campaign caused many to skip over the sequel to 2014’s surprise success, Guardians of the Galaxy (it’s really been three years?). If you were one who missed it in the theater, it’s now available on multiple streaming services, Blu-ray, and DVD, and it’s so much fun, and so good, it’s going to prompt us to resurrect our discussion of that awesome rarity: sequels that rival the original.

Get ready for more laugh-out-loud humor among the Guardians than in the previous film. Now that the origin story is behind us, we get to know each character more after they’ve been working together and their relationships are well-established. Prepare for more quotable lines from Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Dave Bautista’s Drax, and the voices of Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, and Vin Diesel, this time as a tiny Baby Groot as we met him at the end of the first film. Returning characters who see fairly expanded screen time and are integral to the story more than before are Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Michael Rooker’s Yondu, and Guardians II director James Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn returning as the Ravager Kraglin.

As much as you’ll love the familiar players, the new characters and the storylines they bring to the table keep the film exciting to the very end. First you have two big names, and unlike superhero movies of the past, they aren’t just in the film to get audiences into the theater: Kurt Russell adds another compelling and multi-layered performance to his resume as Star-Lord’s father Ego, and Sylvester Stallone plays an important role as Stakar, a Ravager leader whose backstory intertwines with Yondu. Adding to her nuanced villain roles (along with her role in 2016’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) is Elizabeth Debicki (you may also recognize her voice in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) as Ayesha–you directs a fleet of pilots in spacecraft drones that are like nothing you’ve seen before. And finally, the Marvel Universe is introduced to Pom Klementieff’s Mantis. Some of the best scenes in the film, both dramatic and hysterically funny, come from conversations between Drax and Mantis. An unexpected reference to Mary Poppins (!?) is probably the best line in the film.

Marvel Studios has released much awesomeness in the past few days for Guardians of the Galaxy fans. We’ve seen two bright, loud, vibrant, and colorful movie posters (above) plus ten character posters, including the first great look at Elizabeth Debicki (Man from UNCLE) as golden girl Ayesha. Still no look at Nathan Fillion or Sylvester Stallone yet. Are they even going to be in the movie?

Yesterday the main cast each released and promoted their respective posters on social media. Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Michael Rooker’s Yondu, and Vin Diesel’s Baby Groot are each featured on individual posters, with newcomer Pom Klementieff as Mantis and Kurt Russell as Ego, Dad to Star-Lord, also getting the spotlight along with Debicki.

The posters really look like mock-ups for a superb Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, trading card series. Collect ’em all. Topps, please take note. Take a look at the rest of the posters after the break:

We haven’t seen all the tracks on the soundtrack/mix tape that will be “Awesome Mix Vol. 2” yet, but we know Sweet’s 1974 hit “Fox on the Run” will be on it from the several trailers released so far for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. If you like to watch every new trailer and clip, check out all the trailers below plus a new clip released during the 2017 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, a clip that seemed to slip by this weekend.

Unlike the prior trailers the new preview is a full scene from the new film, showing everyone seems to be in the same form from the prior movie, except Drax is a bit more… over-the-top. And Groot is still Little Groot.

Marvel Studios released another great trailer for the sequel Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and not only is all the gang featured, we get our first good look at Star-Lord’s dad, Ego, played by Kurt Russell. Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, Michael Rooker’s Yondu, and Vin Diesel’s Baby Groot are all still in top form. With newcomer Pom Klementieff as Mantis.

Still no look at Elizabeth Debicki, Nathan Fillion, or Sylvester Stallone in the film yet.

But what a great return of this unusual team of superheroes. Wait no longer– Check out the new extended trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2:

If 2014’s blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy is not in your list of Top 5 superhero movies, it’s time to go back and try again. Marvel Studios released the first trailer for the sequel this week, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and not only is Groot back, he’ not merely hiding behind Star-Lord’s leg but taking the lead in the Marvel galactic universe. Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, and Vin Diesel’s Baby Groot are all back in top form.

But Marvel is still holding back the new slate of stars for a future trailer. We’re talking about Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, and Elizabeth Debicki, and returning stars Karen Gillan as Nebula and Michael Rooker as Yondu, although we saw Rooker in the teaser we previewed earlier at borg.comhere.

But what a great first look at the return of this wonderful, motley team of superheroes. Marvel calls it a teaser, but at more than two minutes and with the inclusion of actual scenes it is hardly merely a teaser. Wait no longer– Check out the first full trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2:

It’s hard to believe the humorously named doof named Bright from Everwood made it to the Big Time. And we couldn’t be happier for him. The down to Earth, easy going Chris Pratt has been one of the high points of everything he’d touched, whether as the goofy Andy on Parks and Recreation, the rookie in Moneyball, the only redeeming feature of Jurassic World, the everyman star of The Lego Movie, the wise-cracking cowboy in The Magnificent Seven, or his real-life charity one-upmanship with the other Marvel superhero actor Chris, Chris Evans. Chris Pratt’s taking over lead movie roles and his leading role as Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy, to be reprised in next year’s sequel Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2, is why.

If 2014’s blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy is not in your all-time list of Top 5 superhero movies, it’s time to go back and try again.

Marvel Studios dropped both a new poster and the first teaser trailer for the sequel this week, confirming that the entire band is getting back together again for the sequel, sure to have a great 1970s soundtrack to accompany us on our adventure. Pratt, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Dave Bautista’s Drax, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, Vin Diesel’s Groot, Karen Gillan’s Nebula, and Michael Rooker’s Yondu lead the cast. But it looks like they are saving the new slate of stars for the next trailer.

First, check out the first preview and poster for Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2:

As the lead in director Neil Burger’s 2011 theatrical release Limitless, Bradley Cooper gave one of his better performances. Opposite Abbie Cornish and Robert DeNiro, Cooper played Eddie Morra, who stumbles upon a pill that allows him to use 100% of his brain functions. This allows him to manipulate the world around him, and, as we said in our review of the film here at borg.com back in 2013, the result was a superhero movie hidden within a film marketed as a drama.

Cooper is briefly reprising his role as Morra in a television sequel series coming to CBS. Cooper will hand off the leading role to actor Jake McDorman (Live Free or Die Hard, House, M.D.), who plays Brian Sinclair. Like Morra, he will use these new found powers to change the world around him.

After so many dark and dreary superhero movies, did Hollywood forget what drew everyone to comic books in the first place? Somewhere along the way drama began to bog down the genre resulting in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy, and it looks like it’s not going to let up with the first images for the 2016 release Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. “Why so serious?” And it hasn’t just been movies based on DC Comics. Marvel’s X-Men franchise gave us all those Academy Award winning actors all so grim and in such dire circumstances. Sure, they’re good films, but Guardians of the Galaxy proves superhero movies don’t have to be so grim to be good.

If you don’t find yourself laughing out loud with this flick then the superhero genre is not for you.

The same kind of excitement you remember from your first viewing of Star Wars and Superman is waiting for you. For certain Guardians of the Galaxy is neither movie, but it isn’t trying to be. Good escapist fun underscores every scene, and its greatest achievement is not taking itself too seriously. Its characters have a familiar and likeable chemistry like our favorite crews of Serenity or the Millennium Falcon. Writer/director James Gunn and co-writer Nicole Perlman pull together familiar elements from The Fifth Element, Flash Gordon and even “The Tholian Web” to make a fully-realized new sci-fi/superhero universe. And it’s as good an adaptation of a comic book series as you’ll ever find. Even better, its second tier cast of characters–unfamiliar to most movie watchers–means expectations and preconceptions filmmakers may be more concerned with in a Batman, Superman, or Spider-man story are just not an issue here.